This invention relates to the production of serums effective to control disease and more particularly it relates to methods of obtaining anti-viral (e.g. interferon) and anti-bacterial products.
Interferon is now commercially produced outside the body by culturing cells and by recombinant DNA technique. The cost of producing and separating interferon in these ways is high, and also is a slow tedious process which hardly provides enough interferon to meet the demand. Conversely the obtaining of interferon-containing plasma from an animal after introducing in it an interferonogen and use of this plasma as interferon preparation is relatively simple.
It is known, as set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 4,049,794, of O. Straub, which issued on Sept. 20, 1977, for example, that interferon is generated for control of various viral diseases in warm blooded animals. Biomedicine, 1978, Vol. 29, pp. 227-228, reports that interferon is generated in the human organism after introduction of an interferonogen, that is, a substance which causes the interferon to be induced. A typical example of the treatment of animals with serums is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,160,825, of D. Dikes, granted July 10, 1979.
Accordingly, there is a need to improve the methods of producing interferon and, in particular, there is a need to increase the efficiency of production of interferon by animal donors.
Also, it is known to the art to obtain anti-bacterial substances by different manufacturing procedures than interferon. In general, the interferon and anti-bacterial substances also are administered separately after being obtained.
It is known that in the treatment of viral diseases, such as influenza, in many instances, where the viral disease is controlled, the patient has the after-effects of bacterial infections such as staphylococcus. In such cases, the prophylactic or treatment administration of companion anti-viral and anti-bacterial substances can control not only the viral infection but also the bacterial infection.